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Will the soccer World Cup expose a nation on the verge of becoming the next Zimbabwe? Or Rwanda?

Robert Morley

Imagine if Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, or any other politician in America publicly sang songs that said African Americans were dogs, that they were cowards that robbed society and that they should be killed—and then shrugged off criticism by saying the lyrics were just part of America’s heritage and didn’t really mean anything.

There would be an uproar — and rightly so.

What if the president of the United States agreed? And he regularly whipped supporters into a frenzy by dancing and singing a song titled “Bring Me My Machine Gun”? And what if the president was acting like this at a time when black Americans across the country were being hunted down and murdered because of their race?

Human rights activists would be up in arms and the United Nations would be breathing down America’s neck for using hate speech to incite racial violence. There would be lawsuits, international arrest warrants, and very likely assassination attempts. America would be the pariah of the world.

Yet, these are the very words and sentiments espoused by the two most powerful politicians in South Africa. And both are blatantly open about it. Meanwhile, South Africa’s white farmers are being murdered at appalling rates.

Yet the world, and the United Nations — that supposed bastion of anti-discrimination — say little or nothing about it.

Why? Because South Africa is supposed to be the poster nation for anti-racism and reconciliation. After all, the world came together in unity to oust the ruling white government in South Africa. So it is a bit embarrassing to find out that the oppressed have become the oppressors. In this politically correct world, apparently racism only works one way.

But when the racial tension eventually explodes — and explode it will — who will be blamed?

This question was rudely shoved to the forefront of South African society last week. Just months before the 2010 soccer World Cup that will see tens of thousands of international tourists descend upon Johannesburg, Cape Town and other cities, South Africans are reevaluating what 20-plus years of post-apartheid rule has done for the country.

Are things really any better today?

On April 3, Eugene Terre’Blanche, the former leader of the political militia movement that violently opposed the end of apartheid, was brutally hacked to death. His chopped remains were found scattered across his bed. The murder weapons — machete and wooden club — were left next to the bloody remains. According to reports, one of the accused said that Terre’Blanche had verbally abused him for years, and when he refused to pay him his wages (reported to be about $41), he just couldn’t take it anymore.

According to most press reports, the murder was just a wage dispute gone wrong. But the fact that the murderers reportedly pulled down the old man’s pants to expose his naked mutilated body — an act previously used to dehumanize murdered white farmers — suggests that it was anything but a simple murder.

Terre’Blanche’s death came at a particularly embarrassing time for South Africa, for two reasons.

First, it was the latest in a string of high-profile, racially motivated attacks against white farmers in South Africa. Just two weeks earlier, Nigel Ralfe was milking his cows on his farm when four men marched into the yard asking to buy milk. When he replied that he had none to sell, they shot him twice and then pistol-whipped him. They then dragged him to his house where his wife was bathing their three grandchildren. When his wife opened the door they shot her three times point blank.

As the gang ripped apart the house, the bewildered children emerged from the bathroom to find their grandmother dying on her bed where she had collapsed. After stealing an old pistol, a pair of binoculars and a phone, the four men walked away.

More white farmers were murdered in South Africa during just 2009 than have been killed in Zimbabwe since Robert Mugabe came to power. Since the end of apartheid, over 3,000 white farmers have been murdered, according to the bbc. South Africa’s News24, on the other hand, says there have been “only” 1,600 farmers killed in attacks since 1991. Even if that figure is true, it would still make farming in South Africa one of the most dangerous professions in the world. White farmers are more than twice as likely to be killed as police officers, and far more likely to be killed than miners.

Second, the killing of Terre’Blanche came only a few days after Julius Malema, the firebrand leader of Jacob Zuma’s African National Congress’s (anc’s) Youth League, whipped university students into a frenzy by repeatedly chanting “kill the boer, kill the boer” at a rally. “Kill the boer” is literally translated as “kill the farmer,” but is used to mean “kill the white farmers.” The rest of the song includes the phrases “the cowards are scared,” “these dogs are raping,” and “shoot, shoot… shoot the boer.”

The phrases are reminiscent of the words “kill the cockroach,” which Hutus chanted as they slaughtered the Tutsis in Rwanda. But instead of censoring Malema for his hate speech, Zuma’s anc went to court to challenge an earlier court judgment that declared the lyrics as unconstitutional and unlawful.

On April 3, Malema flew to Zimbabwe to meet Robert Mugabe and take part in lavish celebrations marking 30 years in power for the Zimbabwean president. Malema and Mugabe share the same vision. Malema is pushing to nationalize South Africa’s mining industry and is among those pushing for a controversial new policy to hasten the “redistribution” of white-owned land in South Africa—the same policies that turned Zimbabwe from a breadbasket of Africa into the continent’s biggest basket case.

Like Zimbabwe, South Africa has now nationalized all water rights and mineral rights and is forcing companies to sell partial ownership to black people or organizations.

“South Africa should learn from Zimbabwe. White commercial farmers in Zimbabwe did not heed the sign-o-the-times.

That naivety has cost them their livelihoods… [T]here’s not much they can do anymore.

The current is in motion.

South African white farmers and industrialists should not bask in the comfort that their country is called “democratic.” The power of the masses is too strong; especially the majority masses.

If they do not heed the signs; especially the calls for nationalization of farms and industries, then they have themselves to blame if that process is forcibly put in motion…”

South Africa is rapidly barreling down Zimbabwe Road, and unfortunately the same road heads to Rwanda. The farmers may be the first to get run over, but all South Africans should worry. Just look at what has happened in virtually every country north of the border.

Ezekiel 7:23-27 perfectly describe South Africa today. The Bible prophesies that so many bloody violent crimes will occur that they will be like links in a chain—one right after another. This passage even talks about people’s homes being taken away and conflict between nationalities.

Conditions will get so bad in South Africa that eventually—in desperation—people will begin searching for God. They will cry out for Him to save them. But God says it will be futile because He is purposefully sending the punishment (for proof that this passage is referring to the nation of South Africa, read the book The United States and Britain in Prophecy).

But there is hope for South Africa, and the whole world. Verse 27 also says that God is sending the punishment so that “they shall know that I am the Lord.”

God does not want people to suffer. He loves all races and nationalities. And God wants people to be truly happy. But true peace and happiness can only come from obeying His laws and commandments. God wants the people of South Africa and the world to obey Him. If they would, blessings of peace and prosperity would result. A basic theme of the Bible is blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. Unfortunately, because of disobedience, the curses will keep on coming.

The soccer World Cup is around the corner. What kind of nation will it reveal?

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